Thursday, April 28, 2016

Pleased to see that Kim Pittaway is to receive the 2016 Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Magazine Awards Foundation. She earned it, as a journalist, editor, teacher and mentor. One of her nominators, Joyce Byrne, the publisher of Avenue Calgary and the current president of the NMAF said

As a mentor, Kim has inspired my own path in magazine publishing with simple advice: Get involved, volunteer, mentor a young person, have an opinion, lead an organization.

Pittaway, who was managing editor, then editor, of Chatelaine as well as a prolific freelance magazine writer, now lives in Nova Scotia and is a faculty member of the journalism and MFA programs at King's College in Halifax.This award, recognizing career excellence and service to the Canadian magazine industry, is the highest honour that the NMAs make and Kim joins a select company of recipients (blush, including me). It will be presented at the awards gala on June 10 in Toronto.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

The 2nd annual Emerge Media Awards, produced by the student of the University of Guelph/Humber , were presented Monday evening in Toronto.The event crosses all sorts of media lines, from such things as written word to public relations, from multimedia to radio, from video to advertising and photography -- all areas of study offered at Guelph/Humber, although entries are welcomed from media students across the country.The first place winners in each category were:

Friday, April 22, 2016

[This post has been updated] The results of the 2nd annual Best in Business awards program for the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW) were announced Thursday. Magazine-related winners were:

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Ricepaper magazine has discontinued its print edition after 20 years of publication. The Vancouver-based magazine focuses on Asian-Canadian literature and will continue to do so, only online. The publication began as a newsletter for the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop (ACWW) and has published prominent Asian-Canadian writers such as Wayson Choy, Kid Koala and David Suzuki.

“We’re not dead, We’re just transformed,” founder Jim Wong-Chu told The Georgia Straight. “We’ve been around 20 years.That’s a long legacy. We’re transitioning online, we have a whole group of editors working on the online thing, and in two to three years, they’ll see if the switch will focus on that medium.”

Wong-Chu attributed the decision in part to competition from other platforms for attention and a lack of funding.

“A lot of [funding] was disappearing because you were dealing with the Harper era and they’re cutting, cutting, and cutting. $20,000 disappeared this year—a large component of what keeps the magazine running,

“We spend 60 percent of our time trying to fund-raise and write grants just to keep it afloat, which is way off-balance, as opposed to serving the community; you can only put in so much content.

“We decided that it was not cost-effective and we didn’t want to get to the point that we were pushed out,” Wong-Chu says. “So we decided to get out before we were pushed out.”

The online version will have video interviews, podcasts and even an ACWW archive.

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Nature Conservancy quarterly magazine launched

Have just caught up with the newly launched magazine of the Nature Conservancy of Canada (spring 2016), which is a handsome promotional vehicle for the organization and its work. The managing editor is Christine Beevis Trickett, director of editorial services who lives in Calgary. She also edits Landlines, the blog of the NCC.

"It seemed only fitting that...transformation should be the theme of our first issue. In these pages you'll read updates on some of our projects from coast to coast, how our volunteers are helping maintain or improve some of our landscapes and how poetry and words have the ability to generate real change and connection," she said in her editor's message.

There are a number of magazine-y connections. The cover story is about adjustments to climate change in the habitat of the Whitebark pine; it is written by freelance writer and editor Allan Britnell, who is also president of the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors. And another piece is a short profile of Dirk van Loon who several years ago donated part of his oceanfront property near Port Joli on the south shore of Nova Scotia to the NCC. He operates DvL Publishing (Rural Delivery, Atlantic Forestry, Atlantic Horse and Pony, Beef and Sheep) out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

Derek Decloet leaves Rogers Media after two years and rejoins Globe and Mail

Derek Decloet is rejoining the Globe and Mail after two years as head of content for Rogers Media. Decloet was with the Globe from 2003 and will now be resuming a role as editor of Report on Business (ROB) and executive editor of The Globe and Mail. He replaces Paul Waldie, who is returning to London.

During his previous time at The Globe, Decloet won the Stanley McDowell prize and the National Magazine Award for business writing, plus another four NMA nominations.

His role at Rogers Media was to lead the editorial operations of their consumer magazines including Maclean's, Canadian Business, Chatelaine, MoneySense and SportsnetMagazine andsetting a new digital direction for them.

Business media publisher MediaEdge Communications has announced the launch of two new digital products -- a new website Restobiz.ca and e-newsletter RestoBiz Bytes as extensions of print magazine Restaurant and Foodservice News (CRFN). The twice-a-month e-newsletter has a circulation to over 22,000 foodservice and restaurant owners and operators. The print magazine will continue to be produced 6 times a year with an annual circulation of 70,000 and a total readership of 280,000.

"We are very excited to be in this active and ever-changing space, and are equally proud of the print and digital products and events that we offer the foodservice and restaurant industry," says Chuck Nervick, senior vice president at MediaEdge Communications.

Dan Rubinstein, now a freelance magazine writer and editor, is one of the shortlisted finalists for the 2nd annual Kobo Emerging Writer prize for non-fiction. His book Born to Walk: The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act, was published in April 2015 by ECW Press, Rubinstein has among other gigs been editor of unlimited and Alberta Views and was managing editor/acting editor for Canadian Geographic, as well as a sportswriter for Canadian Press and Associated Press.

For a hundred years, there have been Pulitzer prizes awarded for journalism, but until last year magazines were not eligible; no magazine brands won that first time around, but this year The New Yorker won for feature writing for Kathryn Schulz's July 20 story, "The Really Big One," about an impending massive earthquake striking the Pacific Northwest and Emily Nussbaum, was honored with the Pulitzer Prize for criticism.

"This year’s results are simply astounding––and a source of immense pride," wrote The New Yorker editor David Remnick in a memo to staff. "This is a day of celebration at The New Yorker, first and foremost for these writers, who are so deserving."

Monday, April 18, 2016

Rogers Communications reports that in the first quarter of 2016 that it had 2% growth overall, driven by 5% incrase in Wireless revenue. Operating revenue was $3.245 million, compared with $3.175 million in the same period in 2015. The company declared a 48 cent-per-share quarterly dividend.

In the media division, which includes some 50 consumer and trade magazines, but the results are combined in the company financials with the Toronto Blue Jays, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment and rights to the NHL, television properties (CITY,OMNI, The Shopping Channel and Sportsnet) and radio (55 stations across Canada). Operating revenue decreased 3%, "primarily as a result of lower advertising revenue" in conventional broadcast television, publishing, and radio, This was partly offset by higher sports related revenues. However, media operating losses for the quarter were 53%.

The founder and honorary chairman of St. Joseph Communications, Gaetano Gagliano, died last Thursday at the age of 98 and his funeral has been held. In his career, he started a small printing business in his Toronto basement and grew St. Joseph Printing into one of the largest privately held printers in the country. With the purchase of Key Media in 2002 St. Joe's became a publisher of some of Canada's best known magazines, including Toronto Life, Fashion, Canadian Family and Quill and Quire.The company now produces print and online marketing materials for many large Canadian retailers, including Walmart Canada and Sears Canada.

Friday, April 15, 2016

[This post has been updated. (see below)]The results have been released of the first full-year study of Canadian consumer magazine and newspaper readership by Vividata and it demonstrates, not surprisingly, that magazine readership remains strong, with 70% of Canadian adults reading magazines, comparable to levels of five years ago. And the trend to reading on digital devices continues to grow. Never before measured is that almost half of magazine readers are now reading on a digital device.

The research organization was founded in 2014 as an amalgamation of NADbank and the Print Measurement Bureau (PMB). The study results were based on the first full year of fieldwork of the combined organization, looking at 117 publications (73 magazines, 44 newspapers) in a survey of 38,000 consumers across Canada from January to December 2015. The amalgamation was, at least in part, in order to allow measurement of blended and unduplicated readership results for both print and digital.Among the other findings are that

7 out of 10 digital readers are now reading on a a mobile device at least part of the time.

A surprising 60% of millennials (18-34) read magazines; 16% only on a digital device; 37% only in print; almost half, both

Totally not surprising is that (adults 50+) remain heavy readers of magazines and newspapers

The following are the current top 10 in English and French in total net print and digital readership in thousands:Top 10 English ('000s)

Reader's Digest

4492

Cineplex magazine

4184

Canadian Living

3834

People

3487

Canadian Geographic

3439

Chatelaine

3200

CAA Magazine

3047

Maclean's

2193

FOOD & DRINK

2144

Can. House & Home

1886

Top 10 French ('000s)[This post has been updated: Earlier version had incorrect sort for top 10 French titles. Our apologies.]

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

Nice story in Up Here magazine about the revival of the craft of building Mackenzie Delta qujaqs (kayaks). It was a near run thing to capture the lessons from increasingly rare elders who knew how to do such things as stitch sealskin coverings that would remain watertight. The story, by Daniel Campbell, recounts how Darrel Nasogaluak, who is now the mayor of Tuktoyaktuk, learned to make tools and construct the craft using techniques passed down from his grandfather and father -- carving driftwood frames in the way it was done by his ancestors. Now he's looking for young people he can teach to carry on the techniques.

David Balzer, the newish editor-in-chief of Canadian Art magazine has sent a message to subscribers unveiling the new mission statement and inviting them to make a gift to support expanded editorial research and writing. The magazine intends to:

launch a regular monthly column on Indigenous art in 2016;

increase coverage of many important—yet often overlooked—aspects of art and its communities, such as art and parenting, art and disability, and more; and

"experiment and push the envelope in terms of special artist projects and new ways to write about art." Among other things, the statement says

“What is Canadian art?” is a question we are continually asking ourselves," the statement says, in part. "Parity in region, ethnicity and gender, both in contributors and coverage, will be reflected in every issue. We will promote ambassadors for Canadian culture, whether or not they live and work within Canada."

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

TVA Group has launched its own digital newstand for a roster of its own titles. The newstand is called Molto and it was developed in collaboration with miLibris Solutions of Montreal. It's available in both the Apple Store and Google Play. Among the titles made available are: Elle Quebec, 7 Jours, Coup de pouce, The Hockey News, Canadian Living, Clin d’œil, Chez Soi, Style at Home, Cool!, Elle Canada, Tellement Bon!, Echoes Vedettes, Dernière Heure, Star Système, Fleurs Plantes Jardins and TV Hebdo.According to a press release, Molto users will have unlimited access to all TVA Publication titles; an introductory offer if $8.49 a month, with the first month free for new subscribers.

miLibris Solutions Inc, based in Montreal, is the North American subsidiary of miLibris France. It serves some of the largest newspapers and magazines such as: l'Équipe, Le Figaro, les Échos, la Croix, le Groupe Prisma, l'Express, l'Obs in France, and in Spain with La Vanguardia, Cinco Dias, in Israël with the Jérusalem Post, in the USA with the New York Daily N

Thursday, April 07, 2016

Volunteers needed to help run MagNet conference in June

Magazines Canada is looking for student volunteers to assist at this year's MagNet industry conference. The payoff is that, depending on the amount of time you volunteer, the more access you gain to free sessions. And the more opportunities there are to network in a place where many of the industry's leaders gather.

This year’s dates are June 7-9, with sessions happening on the 8th and 9th. It’ll be held at the Courtyard Toronto Downtown Hotel at 475 Yonge Street. Students can learn more about the conference at magnet.magazinescanada.caand if they’d like to sign up to volunteer, they can do so atmagazinescanada.ca/magnet-volunteer-form. Every year Mags Canada gets applications from more volunteers than we can use, so it’s best not to wait to sign up. Typically, the roster fills up by the end of April.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

I make no secret of my admiration for the work of Calgary's Uppercase magazine and the many ways it connects with its subscribers (of which I'm one) and potential new readers. The device is deceptively simple -- in this case a walk through (leaf through) of the current issue, making a one-take video with a cellphone on a tripod. The publisher/editor, Janine Vangool (or at least her hands) uses various simple props,too. It's a real example of how to engage with your audience and promote the excellence of your content.

Monday, April 04, 2016

The forthcoming May issue of Toronto's Fashion magazine (out April 11) features X-men: Apocalypse star Olivia Munn and got her (and the magazine) noticed by the Mail Online.

'Being multi-ethnic - I'm half-Chinese, half-white - brings up a whole set of complications that people don't even think about when it comes to being photographed,' Munn explained.

'I have more of a white appearance on the outside, but my bone structure is very much Asian. I have high cheekbones and smaller eyes. When you put shimmer on the inside of my eyes, I immediately look cross-eyed. If you put too heavy of an eyelash on me, it looks like my eyes are halfway closed.'